1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a computerized gaming device and method of playing such a casino game.
2. Prior Art
Pull-tab games in paper form have existed for many years and are commonly played in state regulated charitable gambling institutions. Likewise, computerized gaming machines simulating casino slot machine games are common. However, none are known that computerize games of chance such as pull-tab games.
Known prior art is in the form of paper tickets packaged in fixed number lots with a fixed payout and therefore, fixed profit. Such games vary in size from approximately 1,000 to 4,000 chances per lot or deal; and the payouts vary from deal to deal from a low of 60% to a high of 84% approximately. The payout of such games is usually in five or six tiers: 4 winning tickets in the highest tier, 4 winning tickets in the second tier, 4 winning tickets in the third tier, 12 winning tickets in the fourth tier, and 200 small winners which often return only 1 or 2 times the cost of a ticket.
Many state regulations require that non-profit organizations who operate charitable gaming tickets (CGTs) place all of the tickets from a deal in a transparent container. This allows the players to see that winning tickets are not pulled from a separate place, envelope, or pocket as they were back when carnivals used this type of game. By looking at the container, players are able to get a rough estimation of how many tickets are left in that container. State regulations often require that an organization display what is called a flare for each game. The flare is a poster which shows the player: which symbols constitute a winner, the amount winning tickets award, and how many winners of each level there are in the game. The flare also may indicate what the payout percentage is for the entire game, and/or total ticket count, and/or the odds of hitting a winner when the game is new (hit frequency). Furthermore, some organizations mark off winners on the flare as those winners are redeemed. This allows a player to know how many large winners remain in the deal at any given time. Some organizations take the games out of play as soon as all of the "major winners" have been redeemed. "Major winners" are commonly referred to as those which are 50 times bet and above. Thus, played in this way an organization can actually take a loss on a deal if all of the major winners are redeemed before enough tickets have been sold to realize a profit. All of these factors combined contribute to making CGTs one of the most straight forward and fair games imaginable. In order to determine profit and loss on a per deal basis, organizations often maintain separate banks for each deal.
Straight forward as CGTs are, there are also several problems from a regulatory and control perspective.